The Dragon and the Hunter
by Exilo
Summary: Samus and Ridley have always been enemies. But trapped on a strange planet and attacked by a mutal enemy, they have no choice but to work together. But will their efforts be enough. Chapter 6 up. The end. PLEASE REVIEW.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**My name is Samus Aran, Federation Alliance service identification 3-214-000512. If any receive this distress call: my ship has been damaged and I've crashed somewhere in the Zion system. My ship is too badly damaged to fly, but I will try to keep this channel functioning, so my location may be traced. Please, if anyone receives this, help me.**

Samus Aran; bounty hunter, assassin, adventurer, leaned back in her control chair. Her helmet rested on the counter to her side, so long blond hair rested on her shoulders. She cupped two hands behind the back of her head and sighed. "Computer," she said.

"Yes, Ms. Aran?" asked a mechanical voice.

"How much fuel do we have?"

"I am afraid that all fuel supplies are empty, Ms. Aran. There is a large leak in the tank. All engines are dead as well."

"And the weapons?"

"Spent, Ms. Aran. You were quit thorough with that enemy ship."

"How long can you keep the distress signal up?"  
"Two weeks at the most, Ms. Aran. That is how long my batteries will last."

Samus leaned further back and sighed again. She didn't know what she could do if the distress signal died before she was rescued from this hunk of dirt. "Damn pirates," she muttered hatefully. "At least I shot that son of a bitch down." She sat up in her chair, eye wide with revelation. "Computer?" she asked. "Is the air breathable?"

"My sensors indicate the air is thick, but stable, Ms. Aran. Your suit should sustain you if necessary."

Samus put on her helmet and opened the hatch door. Killing what ever pirates survived the crash was just what she needed to blow of some steam.

_A distance away_

Ridley pushed his way out of the smoldering wreckage of what was left of his ship, wobbly standing on his hind claws. His head was spinning, his muscles hurt, and he didn't know where in the hell he was. The dragon's first thought was to fly, but as he stretched his wings, a sharp pain soared into his back. Carefully, he moved his charred appendages into his line of view and realized the flesh and most of the bone had been incinerated in the flames. "Fuck," he growled. "Psycho bitch shooting me down unprovoked. I'm the evil one." He growled again, recalling the battle. There he was, hiding from the Federation Alliance's forces and the dozens of bounty hunters who wanted his head, when this bitch comes out of no where, unloading missiles into his ship. Before he even knew what had happened, his cruiser was badly damaged and the bitch just kept firing. In retaliation he fired as well, and did a good amount of damage to the enemy. But soon enough his ship's computers went black and fire engulfed the cockpit.

He examined his wounds again, carefully moving his wings as too avoid that sharp pain. The thin flesh between bones was all but gone, leaving nerve endings open. This caused agony from even the slightest touch of the wind. He longed to dress these wounds, but looking back at the flames that had spread over his ship, he knew he could never reach his medical supplies. Ridley sighed. He'd have to live with the pain for now.

The dragon looked out over the barren land to his left and dense forest to his right. No sign of threats, nor of civilization. He turned back to his ship, just as the flames hit the fuel tank and an explosion engulfed the remaining metal. That's when he realized, for the first time in a long time, he didn't know what to do. He settled down onto his haunches, his long tail lying on the dirt beside him. "That bitch Aran," he snarled to himself. "She killed them all. Every fucking one of them."

Ridley had been so close to succeeding, to ruling this pitiful galaxy. Given his physical appearance, few ever believed he was capable of thought, and this suited him quite well. He never fooled himself into believing he wasn't expendable to the Mother Brain, but he was fairly sure he was valuable. And so long as he remained helpful, she would have no reason to replace him. For a time, he even pondered murdering the Brain and taking control over the Space Pirates. But then Samus came along. That bitch murdered all of the brain's cohorts and minions, and came all too close to killing Ridley himself. In truth he wasn't sure how he'd survived, when he awoke on his home world of Zebes there where holes in his chest and a blaring mechanical voice that screamed self-destruct was imminent. He dragged himself to an escape pod and put himself on life support before succumbing to sleep.

He didn't know how long he'd drifted through the cold recesses of space. When he finally woke up, he flew his pod to the nearest planet and hungrily devoured any information he could find. It was in a major city he discovered it. The Galactic Federation thought he was dead! He laughed. Signs were everywhere: **Dreaded Leader of the Infamous Space Pirates Killed! Galaxy at Ease! Brain's Lieutenants all Dead!** His mind spun with possibilities as to what to do now: in secret he could reorganize the pirates and once more set his plan into motion. All he had to do was stay hidden. Hastily, he hijacked a ship and flew into space, merely drifting amongst the stars: working out a new plan, when that bitch shot him down.

Ridley sighed heavily, folding damaged wings behind his back. He was unarmed, wounded, stranded, and hungry. He decided to fix one of those problems.


	2. Chapter 2

**Mystdragon: The first time I posted this story, the one you responded to, never appeared on the main page. So I deleted it, reposted, and now its on the page. Yay!**

**Alleycat: Thanks for the review…I think. In response, I could've called Samus an array of other, more colorful terms, but I didn't want to offend anyone. Bitch is much more excepted than some other terms I try to keep out of my writings.**

Chapter 2

"Watch your fire," Ridley snarled into his communicator. "Hit the Afloralite and this whole place will go up in smoke."

"Yes sir Ridley," said a grunt over the radio.

"What of the opposition, sir?" asked another of the pirates.

"Kill those that resist. Have some fun. This planet is far too quiet without us," the dragon cackled.

Gliding over the city, high in the air, Ridley surveyed the battle. Humans, the majority species of this colony, fought valiantly against the pirates. Ridley had to admit these strange creatures could fight, but they were no match for the dragon's men. Satisfied victory was at hand, Ridley glided to the outskirts of this city, where he settled down on the grass.

He turned when he heard a small voice behind him. "Mommy?" the girl called out. "Daddy? Where are you? Mommy please." The little human stopped her cries when she noticed Ridley, who twisted his neck to face her. "H-hi," she whimpered. "I-I'm Samus, t-three years old. C-can you help me find my mommy?"

Ridley said nothing, though he understood this human's langue.

"W-who are you?" she asked.

Still, the dragon said nothing.

Samus found her eyes wandering up to meet Ridley's eyes. They were not the cold and mindless eyes of a reptile. These eyes were thoughtful and cunning and careful. Samus suddenly felt a pressure on her back, and realized the dragon's tail had circled her and was now nudging her towards him. Samus's father always said she had more guts than brains, so the young human ceased resisting and moved within a few feet of the crouching dragon. Closer now, Ridley examined the human. For a moment, he thought of killing her like he had countless other warriors, but he quickly dismissed that thought. She was not a warrior, she was a child, and Ridley knew he'd gain no enjoyment from killing something so adorable and innocent. He actually liked her, like he may a pet.

"Samus!" screamed a woman's voice. Both the child and the dragon turned to face the female soldier who darted towards them. The adult lifted her rifle and fired, a beam of energy lancing inches from Ridley's head. In retaliation his tail lashed out in a flash, piercing the tender flesh of the soldier's neck.

Samus screamed. The young human broke away from Ridley and ran to the soldier. She embraced the woman, sobbing and pleading to a higher power not to let her mother die. Then, with a gurgled cry, the woman's life came to an end. Samus lifted bloodied hands to her eyes as she began to cry, Ridley merely stood there, dumb struck and confused at the emotion. Sadness quickly succumbed to blind rage. Samus grabbed her mother's blaster and fired, wounding Ridley in the shoulder. Acting out of instinct; his tail shot forward and impaled the small child from through her stomach.

Samus could never forget that day. The sensation of warm, hot blood trickling down her waist and that cold feeling in her stomach as the tail retracted and left her stomach a gaping hole. But it was Ridley's eyes that she still saw whenever she slept. The fact that they weren't cold and emotionless, but filled with thought, made the pain worse. That another living, thinking creature could hurt her so bad only to fly off as if nothing had happened left her with a hate in her heart that she could never overcome. On that day, her life bleeding out through a wound in her belly, her mother lifeless at her side, she made a promise. Someday, she'd kill that thing responsible.

The hunter finally reached the top of the mountain and gazed down into the chasm beneath. Floating up into the planet's atmosphere was a trail of black smoke, one that had lead her to this wreckage. Beneath her helmet, Samus chuckled. "At least I got that son of a bitch better than he got me." She adjusted the settings of her visor and skimmed over the wreckage of the ship. First the hunter used the thermal imaging, but then switched to magnification. She smiled. There were claw prints in the loose sand, moving gradually away from the crash. There was still something to kill.

_Meanwhile_

The wildlife of this planet was strange, but Ridley guessed he could eat it none the less. Even if the meat was poison, a thorough cooking and his natural immunities should protect him. The dragon had killed something that resembled the human's boar. Admittedly it very large, had two extra legs, and was covered in scales, but he kept thinking of the pigs he'd seen on human colonies. Hopefully, this meat would sustain him until he could figure out how to get off this planet.

He froze when he reached the remains of his ship and ducked into the underbrush of the forest, flattening to the ground so not to be noticed. "It can't be," he growled. He peeked his beak out of the forest to confirm the sight. There, donning Chozo battle armor and a cannon that encompassed her right arm, was Samus Aran!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

But, she hadn't seen him, Ridley realized. She was to busy examining the wreckage of his ship, looking through her handy work. He still possessed the element of surprise, he still had a chance to kill her. But how? The dragon stretched out his wings, just to remind himself he couldn't fly. And lacking a blaster, killing her at this distance would be impossible. His only option was to lure her into the forest.

He was sure that in the labyrinth of trees, she would find her bothersome missiles and that damn cannon useless. All he had to do was lure her into the wood, and he could kill this bitch, take her ship, and everything would be fine. His mind reeled with the idea of finally killing her, of feeling her warm blood on his skin and listening as her heart stopped. After all the pain she had caused him, he would finally taste sweet revenge.

Just as Ridley was about to act, he noticed the sound of propellers in the air. A bright beam of light shown down onto the stunned hunter, blinding her briefly. A cackling voice shouted over the gun ship's, the volume hurting Ridley's ears: "Samus Aran. This is the Galactic Federation Alliance. We received your distress call. Surrender and you will die humanely." Ridley decided he may like this.

Lasers rained down to the ground, and Samus was barely able to dash into the ship's wreckage. The assault continued, lasers firing blindly through smolder and smoke, attempting to snuff the life of the hunter. Briefly, the soldiers thought they had succeeded, until Samus burst from the debris. The thrusters on her back allowed her to glide above the ship's weapons and landed on the cockpit. She pushed her cannon into the reinforced plastic and fired. Cracks appeared in the false glass, beneath it the soldiers looked up in horror as Samus fired again. Another blast of her cannon and the plastic shattered. The soldiers may have screamed, but Samus wasn't sure. The explosion of her missile killed off her ears.

The hunter landed on the ground, the gun ship behind her spiraling to a stop. With the Federation soldiers dead, Samus thought that the danger had passed. She took a deep breath and examined the danger to her power suit.

Diving to the left, Samus lifted her cannon and fired a beam into one of the soldier's chest. The others continued their assault. Rolling to her feet, the hunter blasted another assailant, the shock of energy colliding with armor sending him to the ground. A blast shook Samus, the power burning through her power suit and charring a piece of skin on her back. She twisted her form and brought a foot up to her assailant's head, knocking him down. Another soldier fired two shots. The hunter's armor deflected one of the shots, but the other bolt buried itself deep in her stomach. Samus was forced to apply pressure to her wounded side as she shot down another of the soldiers. A fifth assailant shot her through the chest and arm. Her shields protected her from the fatal wound to her heart, but the injury in her shoulder caused her cannoned arm to go limp. The soldier quickly adjusted his blaster to stun, before delivering a final blast to Samus's gut.

Ridley chose this moment to strike. He burst out of the forest and darted over the ground. Even without wings, he could cover the distance swiftly. The soldier was distracted as he examined his victim. When in range the dragon, lifted a clawed foot to the soldier's chest and thrust a talon into his heart.

Ridley examined each of the scattered weapons carefully, finding only four that worked. He strapped a pair of rifles to his back and placed three pistols into a sack he found on a corpse. Then he remembered Samus. He laughed hardily as he pushed a foot to her chest and began to slowly crush her beneath him. He moved the barrel of a rifle to her helmet and grinned. "I can't miss, space cadet," he cackled. His finger itched. His muscles tensed. But for some reason, he couldn't pull the trigger. He growled loudly, his free claw began to move over his nemesis's body, finally settling on her neck. After carefully searching, he found an almost unnoticeable latch beneath her chin. After flicking it gently, her helmet popped off. A bundle of golden locks burst out from beneath the armor and covered hunter's face. Ridley continued carefully disarming her, finding the latch that would release her chest plate under her left arm and one that would free her legs near her groin. When the armor cracked open, a stream of blood burst out and stained the ground beneath her. "If I don't suture this, you'll die," he growled. "I can't have that. When you die space cadet, you'll see it coming."

When Samus woke next she was someplace cold, which she immediately found odd, since her suit should've kept her body at a comfortable temperature. Moving two fingers to her breastplate to adjust her armor, she felt soft skin rather than metal. "Fuck," she gasped, having a horrible realization. She wasn't wearing her power suit! She didn't even have her spacesuit. Desperate, she moved her hands over her form, but other than a few bits of cloth that covered her wounds, she was completely naked!

Then she heard the laughter: rhythmic and cold and slow. She looked towards the source of the noise and gasped. "Bout time you woke up space cadet," Ridley laughed, pointing his rifle at Samus's bare chest.

"How did you remove my suit?" she demanded.

"Did you know I was born on Zebes? I learned quite a bit about Chozo technology in that time. Now, are you going to beg for mercy or not?"

"Killing me isn't the best of ideas," Samus muttered, and to her relief the dragon lowered his rifle slightly. Ridley was a calculating creature, and if she could convince him she was worth something, there was a chance. "I've seen your ship. And since there's no meat on your wings, I'm guessing you can't fly. You need my ship."

"I'm aware of that. Now you'll die."

"It won't work. The AI on the ship won't fly without me. You need me, alive and well."

"But you don't need me, space cadet." The cold steel of the rifle pushed gradually harder into Samus's breast. "I turn my back and you shoot me. Then you make it to your ship and mount my head on your dash board."

"I'm unarmed. You can kill me any moment you like."

Ridley thought to himself, calculating eyes a testimony to the decision he made. "Trust is the basis of any relationship?" He scooped the various bits of Samus's power suit into a sack and hoisted it over his shoulder. He then tossed a pair of pistols into the hunter's lap, never ceasing a cold chuckle. "I'm keeping your armor, space cadet. And if you think it wise to shoot me when my back is turned, just ask yourself: 'What if I miss?'"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What did you do to piss off the federation this much?" Ridley asked, his crescent head looking over his shoulder at Samus, who walked behind him through the forest.

"I blew up a space station," the hunter muttered, clutching her pistol tightly. Ridley had given her back her under suit, but she still felt so naked, so vulnerable. She really wanted to shoot him, but doubted her pistol would do anymore than piss the dragon off.

"You," he cackled. "Little space cadet got disgruntled with her boss?"

"Federation was cloning metroids," she said solemnly, not proud of what she'd done. "Then they were goanna clone the X."

"I've been on life support for the past few decades. Forgive me if I'm not up on current affairs."

"Um," she muttered. Why lie? she thought. "The X was a race of parasites. The metroid were their natural predators. When I killed the metroids off, the X ran rampant. They could've destroyed the galaxy."

"Wish I'd thought of using the X. They sound pretty dangerous," Ridley chuckled.

The dragon's tail suddenly swept behind him, catching Samus under the arm and knocking her to the ground. He turned and fired his rifle, the bolt of energy lancing through where the hunter had been mere minutes before. Behind her, a soldier slumped to the ground, a smoldering hole through his armor that had destroyed his heart. Rolling to her feet, Samus fired at another soldier who had failed to surprise her. Ridley continued his own assault, while swiftly taking cover behind a tree. Blast and laser tore away at his defense as he hurriedly reload his rifle. He wasn't sure when Samus joined him behind the cover, but with her there he got an idea.

"Cover me," he snarled over the roar of lasers.

"What?" Samus screamed, not daring to move from her safety.

"I'm trusting you," he grinned as he folded wings behind his back and began to crawl beneath the dozens of lasers. For a moment, the hunter thought of shooting him, or better simply running. But instead she abandoned her cover and fired, just to be sure the soldiers attention stayed on her.

The battle ended as briefly as it'd begun. Ridley appeared behind the soldier and fired. When they turned to slay him, Samus continued her assault. And in a moment of bright, flashing lights, the soldiers all fell.

Ridley trampled over a dozen corpses, plucking what ever arms he could unearth. He handed Samus a new rifle and nodded approvingly, before stalking past her and continuing on his way. When he had passed, she looked over her rifle and, satisfied it would at least hurt the dragon, she lifted it to her eye and took careful aim. Her muscles tensed, her finger itched, the scar on her belly began to ache. Her shoulders slumped and the rifle fell to her side. Quietly, she followed after the dragon.

_Hours later_

From her place of hiding in the woods, Samus let a stream of profanities escape her lips. The strange soldiers had found her ship and now an entire army was surrounding her best means to escape this rock. "Give me my suit," she said to Ridley, who was crouched beside her.

The dragon snarled.

"I can contact my ship's AI through my suit."

"And I lose my collateral."

"Trust is the basis of any relationship," Samus muttered.

The dragon looked out towards the ship, and the hundreds of armed humanoids, all cradling rifles. Reluctantly, Ridley relinquished the sack that he carried. In moments, Samus had entered her second skin, and in an instant, her eyes were swarmed with numbers and words as information passed over her visor. Her suits system was so integrated into her consciousness; all she had to do was think the message she'd send to the AI, and it was done. Slowly, the ship's guns slowly lowered and began to crank and crackle with life, confusing the soldiers who had spent hours trying to break into the ship's advanced computers. Realizing what was happening, some of the men tried to run. They were far to slow.

When the weapons had ground to a halt, the last of the soldiers had fallen to the ground in a pool of their still warm blood. While Samus glided across the battle field, timidly followed. He slowly cocked his rifle and stiffened his tail; both would be necessary for a victory over the fully armed hunter. Samus spun and lifted her cannon to Ridley's chest, the ships weapon's focusing on him as well.

"Now," she whispered. "Throw away your weapon."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"I'd prefer to die armed space cadet," Ridley growled.

The standoff held for seconds that seemed like eons. The pain from the scar on Samus's belly was so intense she almost lost her hold on her weapon. But she couldn't kill him. Not yet at least. First she had to know: "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance? Why did you suture my wounds and wait for me to heal?"

"A death in sleep is for politicians and bureaucrats, space cadet. You deserved to see your killer as much as I wanted to watch you die."

Samus slowly lowered her cannon. "You don't deserve to die like this either," she muttered, her voice barely audible over a sudden whiz of rockets. Missiles collided with steel of Samus's ship, causing a small explosion. The hunter ran forward, away from the rising inferno, as another rocket collided with her ship. This time, the explosion propelled her forward, and into the awaiting claws of the dragon. At that moment, he could've killed her in a million ways. He'd never lost his rifle, and even if he had, he was always armed with sharp teeth, claws and his infamous tail. But instead, he lifted the dazed hunter over his shoulder and clutched his rifle tightly. Above him, a Federation gunship was quickly approaching. A missile was launched, an explosion rocking the ground that Ridley stood. He was thrown into the air, the world spinning beneath him. The ground came far too fast. He landed on his wing with a loud snap. When his eyes opened again, he was almost into shock, which took a moment to suppress. Soldiers leapt from the gunship and began to surround the dragon. With all his might, he began to run into the sanctuary of the forest.

_Hours later_

Why did he save me? Samus asked herself, carried through the woods on her nemesis's back. Her slim body fit rather nicely between the dragon's folded, burnt and broken wings. Her arms were draped over his shoulders and around his neck. Her power suit scraped at the scales on Ridley's back. She didn't know how long she'd been carried, but her ear was against his back and his heart beats filled her head. How strange she had never thought he had a heart, it was a such a human organ, just like her's.

I wonder if I'm heavy? she thought. She guessed her power suit added fifty or sixty pounds. Naturally she was six feet tall and weighed around 150 pounds. She imagined she was quiet heavy.

And why is he letting me keep my power suit? While he had removed her cannon and helmet, he had left the majority of her protective armor on this time. At first her plan was simple. Trick Ridley into taking her to her ship, kill him, and then worry about her lack of fuel and the Federation soldiers that had tracked her down. But he had spared her, he had trusted her, maybe that's why she didn't kill him.

Realizing she was awake, Ridley allowed Samus to slide off his back. "Are you alright?" he growled.

"Yeah. You?"

Ridley looked embarrassed. "I, I need you to do something," he whimpered.

"What?" she asked nervous.

"I need you to mend my wing," he growled, stretching his mangled appendages out. Samus gasped. The bone of his left wing was protruding out of skin. It looked broken. No, she corrected herself. His wing looked shattered.

"H-how can I do that?"

"You were raised by a race of bird people. You telling me you've never fixed up a wing?" Ridley growled. Just push what's left of the bone back in and wrap it with cloth."

"Why can't you?" Samus asked fearful.

"My wings are too long. I can't put them straight or wrap them."

"Fuck," Samus muttered. Ridley flattened his wing onto the ground and bite down hard on a stick as the hunter careful straightened out the mangled appendage. He growled loudly in pain as armored skin touched the sensitive, exposed nerves and pushed bone back into skin. Samus took a bit of cloth handed to her by the dragon and tried to cover the wound gently, though she was sure the pain was sill intense. Just when Ridley thought he couldn't take the pain no more, Samus moved away, her bloody work complete.

Forcing the pain to subside, Ridley rose to his claws. He'd been moving for several hours and he was tired. He doubted the Federation would come searching for him, not yet at least. After their ambush failed, they'd regroup at their base then come for him and Samus. He had time to sleep. He was tired, and something told him the hunter wouldn't kill him.


	6. Chapter 6

**The final chapter. The end. I don't know if anyone is reading this, because the stats page of my profile isn't showing any hits :(. Anyway, I may make a sequel or I may not. Either way, the end.**

Chapter 6

The Federation had a base on this planet, the front of which was barricaded with fenced and, Ridley assumed, underground mines. The back was to a canyon wall, which meant attacks would have to be full frontal. Or so the soldier thought.

Working very slowly and by the cover of night, Ridley and Samus made their way down the canyon's wall. Many times the hunter looked down to the ground, expecting the soldiers to notice her and open fire. As they were, she and the dragon were completely vulnerable. And yet, just as Ridley had said, the soldiers never noticed them.

Finally, the hunter and the dragon reached the ground. Silently, they slipped between buildings, sneaking past oblivious soldier with ease. Samus was silently amazed that such a large creature as Ridley was able to move with such stealth, yet not a single soldier noticed them.

The base's hanger was simple to reach. Ridley cut a hole in the thin metal wall itself, the blade making a low creaking noise. When he'd worked a rather large opening, he slipped into the darkness. Samus following, and wishing she had her visor, which would allow vision in even the darkest of conditions.

A beam of bright, burning light lanced through the black and blinded Ridley and Samus. In her daze, something wrapped around her neck and she felt the cold steel of a pistol on the temple of her head. When eyes finally adjusted to the blinding light, she saw that Ridley had his rifle trained on her. No, she realized. He wasn't aiming at her, but the man who taken her hostage.

"Ridley," her captor said. "Last time I saw you, you were raiding one of our bases. You and your pirates."

The dragon didn't speak. He didn't move. He just held his rifle.

"Throw away your weapon or I'll blow her brains out."

Ridley chuckled. "The human. She means nothing to me colonel. She was just another gun for a time. Now that I have a ship, she's useless."

"Well then. Fire away," the captor laughed, his hot breath giving a sickening sensation as it touched Samus's bare skin.

"Let her go and you may leave. All I wanted was a ship."

Now it was the colonel's turn to laugh.

The dragon lowered his rifle to the floor and kicked it away. The colonel threw his hostage to the ground. Before Ridley could move, he was shot in the shoulder, then stomach and knee. The colonel fired at the dragon's tail and arms to assure no retaliation. The colonel loaded a new clip into his pistol and pushed the muzzle to the dragon's head. "I'm not one to fuck around Ridley," he cackled. "Go to hell where you belong.

_BANG!_

Smoke rose from the rifle's hot barrel and disintegrated into air. The colonel looked down at the wide, bloody hole in hiss chest and collapsed.

Samus slowly rose to her feet and slung the rifle over her shoulder. Her powersuit complemented her natural strength, so it wasn't hard for her to lift the dragon and help his broken body onto a ship. She started the engines and broke through the hanger's roof. Before any of the remaining soldier could board, their ships and give chase, Samus was nothing but a speck in the stars.

"I'll drop you in the out rim," the hunter said. "You should be able to get a transport to where ever you like from there."

Ridley weakly nodded. The human had, perhaps purposely, missed any of his vital organs to prolong his suffering. Never the less, the pain was immense.

"Thanks," she muttered. "For everything." Why he didn't kill her when she'd been taken hostage, she didn't know and she probably never would. Perhaps Ridley held some sort of respect for her. Perhaps she had proven herself in battle and gained her worth. And maybe, just maybe, she held a similar reverence for him.


End file.
